Smash Mouth make it to Australia

Their hit single All Star spent 19 weeks in the ARIA charts in 1999 and Walkin’ on the Sun an impressive 21 weeks in 1997.

But fate prevented them from meeting their Australian fan base.

“Well, 9/11 was one [reason],” singer Steve Harwell says from his studio in America.

“We couldn’t fly anywhere, because the tour was right around that time.

“And there were two personal things in the band that prevented us from going.

“It’s been so unfortunate man, I’ve been wanting to come there forever.

“I know we have a lot of fans there and it kills me that we’ve never been able to make it.

“Now it’s confirmed, I’m really happy.

“Everybody [in Smash Mouth] is really excited.”

The San Jose, California, band has sold over 10 million records and played stadiums around the world, but Hunter fans will have the chance to see them in the intimacy of the Cambridge Hotel.

Harwell says that Smash Mouth’s most popular material will be in their Aussie setlists – songs like Why Can’t We Be Friends, I Can’t Get Enough of You Baby and I’m a Believer – and a few new songs from last year’s record Magic.

And that the band will make every show count.

“We’re going to play some new stuff and we’re going to play a lot of old stuff,” Harwell promises.

“It’s going to be a fun show.

“We’ll have four songs off the new record – we’ll do Magic and Flippin’ Out – plus all the hits and some really cool stuff that our ­hardcore fans were requesting on past tours and we weren’t playing.

“We’ll definitely play something off every record.

“If we’re having fun, then you guys will have fun.

“It’s going to be a big party.”

And the band’s female fans should take note.

“Thank God I’m single now, so I can come down [to Australia] and have fun,” Harwell says.

Smash Mouth formed in 1994.

Harwell had performed in a rap group, but decided to create a new musical project.

He recruited guitarist Greg Camp and bassist Paul de Lisle, and a school friend – drummer Kevin Coleman.

Smash Mouth created a hybrid sound of ska, surf rock, pop, new wave, rap and punk.

“It totally came out of jamming and ­developing, because when we started I was so raw and young,” Harwell says.

“Greg and Paul were seasoned veterans in the local music scene.

“My drummer at the time, Kevin, and I used to play in garage bands when we were in high school and junior high.

"We were just young and drinking and ­partying and loved jamming.

“We started writing whatever we were ­feeling.”

A record deal was inevitable when Smash Mouth wrote Walkin’ On The Sun, the lead ­single from their debut record Fush Yu Mang in 1997.

The song – and the band’s sound – was refined and moulded by producer Eric Valentine.

“It really came together for us when Eric Valentine, our producer, came into the band,” Harwell recalls.

“I call him ‘the fifth Beatle’ because he’s so instrumental to our sound.

“He literally came in weeks before we ­started making the record and said ‘Hey, we’re not going into the studio until we fine-tune everything and tweak it and get it right.

“We made the record in a month, I think – it was pretty quick because we were so on our game.

“I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what our sound was yet, but after Walkin’ on the Sun we knew.

“After that song our sound was established – we were a Southern-fun, 60s-influenced punk rock band.

“[The sound] just kept getting better.

“[Second album Astro Lounge] was when people could say, ‘Ok, this is them’.”

As is evident on new album Magic, Harwell isn’t interested in reinventing the group’s sound.

“If we try to get away from that [style] people would wonder what we’re trying to do,” Harwell says.